Tuesday

MPP's Menace

(This was received by MPP on Sunday, June 14, 2009)okay, i have a rather unusual situation & i hope u can help with it b-cuz i dont no who else 2 turn i am a nanny and take care of 1 2.4 yr. old. 2 yrs 4 mos. she is potty training. i live out and hv cats at my house i rescue some 2. well about a week ago, i saw pinworms in my poop. u know what that is? worms that are tiny & crawls in & outs of your poop. they also crawl out of yo butt at nite when you sleep. well i needed to get antibiotic at the clinic but had to wait to satrday cuz i cant afford a dr. i started on the medicine yesterday. the problem is this. when the girl was potty training and i saw her poop, it had dem worms in it 2. i was afraid to say to my boss that i saw the worms cuz they no i am a cat person & mite put 2 & 2 together, yk? so i didnt say nothing. all weekend i feel so guilty thinking about it. i know when i get to work i got to get in there and do that girls sheets in hot water and stuff. is there another way this kid could get the worms so them mama doesnt point the finger at me? i feel i am walkin on thin ice allready & dont want no more mistakes. i need the job. and i do take real good care of the girl and in time i probably love her like she my own. right now i just need to no how to call attention to the problem for the parents without puttin the finger on me. help me.*Okay, don't send your worst in. We have a stockpile of incredibly bad submissions. Do send in your nanny sightings! isawyournanny@aol.com

I am a Microbiologist by education but currently a SAHM. You HAVE TO tell this poor babies parents. She could eventually become extremely ill at her young age from these parasites. Not only could they cause severe diahrea and malnutrition they could also cause her to become anemic. I don't know if you take her to public parks or if she plays outside in a sand box but that is a very easy way for children to pick up this type of parasite. Cats are known to use sand boxes as potties all the time. This is why we keep my little ones sand box TIGHTLY covered. Also, not to be judgmental but the main way you could possibly pass these worms to this little girl would be poor personal hygene. If you are careful to wash your hands with hot water and soap after using the bathroom it would be nearly impossible for you to give them to her yourself. All that being said please, please inform her parents so they may have her treated properly. And get your kitties to the vet ASAP for a worming!

What??? UGH. First of all, learn to spell. Second of all, you HAVE to tell the parents. This is NOT about your job, this is about the child's health!!!

What the hell is wrong with you? Maybe you shouldn't have this job if you can't even acknowledge that a child in your care might need medical attention. Why would you even take young children to a house with stray and unhealthy animals???

You should find another profession. Not only have you apparently given your charge worms, but you will also be blessing her with the gift of illiteracy if you ever try to teach her to speak, write, or spell properly.

Yikes. I didn't know worms from cats could spread to people. I routinely de-worm my cats. I may step up my schedule. I usually do it every other month, as recommended by the vet. The pills are $9 for a 9+ lb. cat, and $5 for a -9 lb. cat.

Second, you need to practice better personal hygeine if it was you who passed these worms to the child. They are spread by her coming in contact with your feces. (if you indeeed are the cause and she didn't get them at the playground), which should NEVER, NEVER happen! Wash your hands after you use the bathroom and before you make food for her.

Third, there is no way you are going to convince anybody here that you love that little girl like your own (at least in the way we love our own, anyway), because as a mother who loves my kids I would never jepopardize their health by hiding a medical condition that needed treatment, no matter what the personal cost to myself.

Quit thinking of yourself. These people pay you to protect their child and instead you are harming her. Shame on you for not telling the mother the moment you saw the worms. All you needed to say was , "Your baby has worms. She needs to go to the doctor." How hard is that? Selfish. Just selfish.

Ok. First of all, the worms that animals get and the worms that humans get are a completely different line. They aren't interchangeable from animals to humans (usually).I too got these worms from a kid I nannies for. Little kids are notorious for getting them bc of their lack of hygiene and learning to wipe skills. I would mention it to the mom, get the girl on meds and then mention that you too have it from her and get them to pay for your meds. You most likely got it from her, not your cats.

As someone who worked in a microbiology/parasitology department in a hosital laboratory for over 10 years I need to say that yes they are the same worm.People are infected with parasite from animals including their own pets all the time. This is the reason our dog is NOT allowed to lick my kiddos face and they must wash their hands after playing with her even though she is on heart and intestinal worm preventative. Also this is the reason living in Texas I no longer go barefoot outside...ever. A nasty little critter called a whip worm can be aquired by barefeet. Granted its a small possibility but enough of one I wont take the chance lol. At the hospital I worked at we were constantly getting children in the ER with pinworms they contracted from their new puppies and kitties that mom and dad had neglected to have wormed yet.

ummm.... k.... have you checked your cats for the pin worms? I have 12 cats... count them 12. I never let them get dirty enough to get worms, and I don't know how the heck you would get worms from your cats...I think you ate something bad... Check your cats first and narrow it down. You are putting this kids health in danger, yours and your cats. You have no business rescuing cats if this is the state you let them be in.

How did you get pin worms from your cats??!!! I am baffled how you let that happen. You clean the litter boxes you would notice that! I have never in my life been so peeved at someone. The poor kitties....

As others have said, kids often pick up pinworms from playing with other kids, so the parents will not necessarily blame you (but they will if you act guilty about it). I HOPE you have already told the parents that their daughter has worms. If you haven't, then do so immediately! It's easy to fix with medication. But untreated pinworms can cause horrible rectal itching, especially at night, so the poor girl's sleep is likely disrupted and the parents have no idea why. I was told that pinworms are usually spread when someone who has them (usually a child) scratches his/her itchy rectum and gets the eggs under his/her fingernails, and then touches something. So make sure you and your charge are washing hands often, especially after bathroom visits and especially under the fingernails.

Pinworms, (enterobius vermicularis), are extremely common and the only host is humans...they do not occur in animals so they did not come from the cats.

They are spread human to human, and family members often spread them because the eggs are so tiny. Fortunately they do not cause serious illness, but they cause anal itching (especially at night) and are found in the stool. The microscopic eggs can remain on toys, bedding and linen for several weeks so everything needs to be washed.

Most pinworm infections are mild and easily treated with a single chewable tablet. Two weeks later a 2nd tablet is taken.

There is no way to know who gave who the parasite and the main goal is for the entire family (and nanny) to get the simple treatment and institute good hand washing hygiene.

Regardless of whether or not you gave the kids pinworms, it is REPREHENSIBLE that you would think of not telling the mom! If I were the mom, I'd fire you, not because you may have infected my child, but because you didn't tell me.

Last summer I got bedbugs, which almost ruined my life and my wedding. As soon as we knew it was bedbugs, I went in the next morning and told my charges' mother. I said, I hadn't seen any bites on the kids, but that she should probably check all the mattresses and the couches. Luckily, they weren't infected. But I knew if they were, the sooner I told them, the better.

The same is true for you. Tell them now, before the parents get infected, or your infection comes back! If you won't think about the kid, how about yourself? You could re-infect yourself if there's still bugs in the house.

About a year ago my 7 year old daughter went to a specialist because she was having severe painful stomach cramps that was not related to constipation and seemed to happen at night and going to the bathroom sometimes relieved the pain. Turns out she had pinworms and was among the 2% of the population who is severely allergic to them. The doctor told me pinworms are spread human to human from having contact with an infected person's feces or unwashed hands after touching the rectal area. I specifically asked about cats since their school playground is covered with a sand surface where stray cats sometimes roam and do their business and he said it is not from animals. OP, you probably got your case of pinworms from your charge. The doctor also said they are EXTREMELY common and many people have them for years without knowing because they are benign and at the most cause mild itching for most people, especially adults. Some of the people here being so critical of your personal hygiene could even have them without knowing it. The treatment is easy--one dose of antibiotics, clean all bedding and linens that might have been in contact with the infected person in HOT water, then another dose of antibiotics 21 days later to kill off anything that hatched from the eggs laid by the worms that were killed in the first dose. Tell your employers if you haven't already. Like I said, you probably got them from your charge, not the other way around.

You almost definitely got this from your charge and not the other way around. This is actually somewhat common in children. Many children are asymptomatic.

You should tell the parents diplomatically that you caught this and your doctor thinks you got it from your charge. Your doctor explained that it's common for caregivers to catch this from their children, and children spread it to one another very easily. The girl will be treated and you will both be fine.

It's strange and mildly annoying that some people don't think this is a real post. Some have expressed surprise to hear another person talk the way this post was written. I'm just wondering where you've been that you have never heard a nanny or another person speak the way the post was written. Of course this is a real post. Tons of people speak this way. Just because you don't encounter them in your little corner of the universe doesn't mean that the post is fake!

This is not patois, anonymous. (And I wonder why your anonymous comment appears?) This is really how people speak, and not those that are foreign born. Of course it is not fake. I think it is pompous and probably insulting to think it's fake!!

Where've you been living that you think this is so outlandish as to be fake, anyway?

If this post is real, and that really is how the nanny speaks, why the hell would anyone hire her? Forget the worms, I'd fire her because she can't speak English. Now by butt is itching....why did I read this?

I like how you used "probably" to describe how much you care for a child. Its either a yes or no.

Let's not even forget to say that as a grown woman you should be embarrassed at how pathetic you write. Everyone makes spelling mistakes and poor grammar choices. Your writing however is a pure display of how lazy you are. Your words are a display of what a backwards human being you are and your lack of appropriate action in regard to a a child and her well being and safety is a display of your selfishness.

Shame on the parents for hiring a person who can't form a normal sentence. Shame on you for being too lazy to learn how to. And shame on you for being a nanny or even calling yourself one. You are clearly incompetent. And learn to wash your hands- that is just disgusting!

I find it odd that a doctor wouldn't know that pin worms can cause a lot of damage. For years my younger sister complained of pain on her right side and for years they said it was all in her head. When she was 16 she fainted in Gym class and finally a doctor did exporatory surgery on her and he found her appendix was a mass of those worms! The doctor from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Mn also said that somewhere she had gotten these worms and they can be caught from the household pets. I remember a Poodle that we had that had those worms and my father taking her to the vet for them. My sister also made a medical book because they had never seen an appendix infested before from these things.Needless to say my sister never mentioned her claim to fame to other people lol Everyone in the family had to take these purple pills for a few weeks to make sure no one else was infected and it is stange that she was the only one that was infected usually the whole family will come down with them.I will say this much about the OP she needs to clean her house and take care of her animals and TELL right now about an infant being infected. This baby did not get them on her own and this nanny needs to clean herself up as well.If the parents don't have them they damn well can figure out from whom the child was infected .

There are tons of people who are hired as nannies who speak and write just like the OP.

I'm not saying this is ideal. I'm just saying this is very common. The OP is hardly the only one who speaks this way.

It's not necessary to be so hard on the OP and blame her for her verbal shortcomings. Surely you don't think everyone has had the same opportunities as you or I. In OP's world, her speaking and writing are perfectly acceptable and understood, and are the norm.

But much more importantly, you cannot blame people for being sick. The OP almost definitely caught pinworms from the child and not the other way around, but even if it were the other way around . . . do you think she did it on purpose? Of course not. Do you think she wanted to come down with pinworms? Hardly. It is very common for children to get them because their hands are always in the dirt where the eggs are, and then they put their fingers into their mouths. Do you blame people who get cancer? Do you blame people who catch other illnesses such as influenza A or swine flu?

My point is that it is hardly appropriate to blame people who have caught an illness or suffer from a disease. A more appropriate reaction to those who are ill is sympathy. And a more appropriate reaction to those who are far less verbally skilled is kindness.

Jun 21, 2009 4:15:00 PM

P.S. Sorry, I accidentally hit "publish" before I had the chance to fill in my moniker, fox, so it came up as anonymous.

pinworms in children do not come from animals. I also don't see how they could possibly infest an appendix, but that's a whole 'nother story. :/

Phoenix, you have 12 cats and you don't know that most kittens are born with worms? Unless you worm your kittens immediately then either worm them monthly or keep them on Revolution or another preventation, yeah, they probably have worms. It's got nothing to do with their cleanliness and you can't tell just by scooping the litter box.

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